Then she whispered to herself, “I may be leaving with nothing, but I will not stay broken. My God will fight for me.”
And with that, Goi stepped into the darkness, bag in hand, tears falling, but with a quiet promise in her heart that this was not the end of her story.
She did not know where she was going that night. She simply kept walking, hugging her bag to her chest. The streetlights were on, but the road still felt dark. Her legs trembled, her eyes burned, and Chik’s words kept ringing in her ears.
“You are a burden. I am freeing myself.”
She walked past shops, past sleeping dogs, past women closing their stalls. No one looked twice at her. No one knew that the woman passing by had just lost her home, her husband, and her peace.
Then she thought of Amaka.
Amaka lived a few streets away. She was Goi’s old friend from university, and even though life had taken them in different directions, Amaka’s door had always remained open.
Goi knocked gently. It was almost ten at night.
Amaka opened the door wearing a wrapper, and her face changed immediately. “Goi? What happened to you? Why are you crying? Did someone die?”
Goi could not even speak. She just collapsed into tears and fell into her friend’s arms.
“Come inside. Come inside,” Amaka said, pulling her in and closing the door. She guided her to a chair. “Talk to me. What happened?”
“He threw me out,” Goi whispered.
“Chik?”
Goi nodded slowly, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “He said I am a curse. He said I am the reason we do not have children.”
Amaka hissed with anger and sat beside her. “That man has no fear of God. After all these years? Goi, you have suffered.”
Goi leaned her head against Amaka’s shoulder. “I don’t even know where to start. I left with only this bag. Everything else is still in that house.”
Amaka touched her arm gently. “Don’t worry. You will sleep here tonight. You can stay as long as you need. I don’t have much, but this house is your house now.”
Goi closed her eyes and let out a long breath. “Thank you, Amaka.”
That night she could not sleep. Even though the bed was soft and the room was quiet, her mind kept returning to the moment Chik threw her out. She remembered the way he turned his face away. The way he looked at her like a stranger. By morning, her pillow was soaked with tears.
Days passed. Goi stayed at Amaka’s house, trying to hide her sadness, but she barely ate and spoke very little. She sat near the window for hours, staring outside as if waiting for something to change.
Amaka tried everything to lift her spirit.
One morning she said, “Come with me to the market. Let’s walk around and get some fresh air.”
Goi shook her head. “I don’t want people to see me. What if someone asks about Chik? What will I say?”
“You will say the truth,” Amaka replied. “That a fool threw away a diamond because he wanted a stone.”
Goi gave a faint smile, but it did not last long.
A few days later, Amaka brought up something serious.
“Have you ever gone for a proper medical checkup?”
Goi looked confused. “What kind of checkup?”
“A fertility test. Have you ever tested yourself to be sure the problem was really from you?”
Goi shook her head slowly. “Chik said it was me. He never agreed to test himself. He said he was fine.”
Amaka frowned. “So you just believed him?”
“I had no choice,” Goi said weakly. “He would not listen. His mother would not listen either. They all blamed me.”
Amaka stood up. “No. This ends now. We are going to the hospital tomorrow. Let the doctors tell you the truth, not that proud husband of yours.”
Goi was too tired to argue. Maybe, for the first time, she needed answers more than comfort.
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